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Village Church Var AN INTRODUCTION NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY : on, A SYSTEMATIC VIEW or THE ORGANISATION, NATURAL AFFINITIES, AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, oF THE WHOLE VEGETABLE KINGDOM; TOGETHER WITH THE USES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SPI THE ARTS, AND RURAL OR DOMESTIC ECONOMY. oe G.S. W1OSORUM 5 By JOHN LINDLEY, F.R.S. L. MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY NATURE C1 OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF RATISRON | OF THE PHYSIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LUND; OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OP BERLIN; HONORARY MEMLER OF THE LYCEUM OF NAT AND PROFESSOR OF BOTAN TORY oF Xew vous, Ke. &e. IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. + Creat ainsi que sont formées les familles tres naturelles et généralement avouces. tons les genres qui composent chacune d'elles les caractéres communs & tous, sa n'apparticnnent pas a la fruetification, et la réunion de cos famille. Plus les ressemblances sont nombreuses, plus les s, ct par suite Ie caraetire general est plus charge. En procédant ainsi, on pa nent au bat pring fence, qui est, non de nommer une plante, mais de connoitre sa nature et son Pe TUSSIEN, On extrait de excepter ceux qui LONDON: ORME, BROWN, AND GRE PATERNOSTER ROW LONGMAN, RE MBCOCANDS LONDON J. MOVES, T0Oh'S COURT, CHANCERY Last, TO THE COURT OF EXAMINERS or THE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES, LONDON. GENTLEMEN, As Guardians of the education of @ very con- siderable part of the Medical Profession, the subject of the following pages cannot be otherwise than interesting to you. Tf a knowledge of the Plants from which medicinal substances are obtained, is in itself an object of importance, as it most undoubtedly is, the Science which teaches the art of judging of the hidden qualities of unknown vegetables by their characters is of still greater moment. To what ev can safely be carried, it is not, in the actual state of hunan knowledge, possible to foresee ; but it is at least certain, that it depends entirely upon a careful study of the natural rela- tions of the Vegetable Kingdom. Measures have lately been taken by the Society or Aporuecartes, which cannot fail to evercise a most bene- ficial influence upon Botany, and which rust have been iv DEDICATION. viewed with feelings of deep interest by all friends of the Science. As a humble individual, whose life is devoted to its investigation, I am anxious to take the present opportunity of expressing my sentiments upon the subject, by very respectfully offering for your acceptance a Work, which it is hoped will be found useful to the Student of Medical Botany. L have the honour lo be, GENTLEMEN, dour most obedient Servant, JOUN LINDLEY. University of London, August, 1830. PREFACE. Tue materials from which the following pages have been prepared were originally collected for the private use of the Author, to remove the inconvenience he constantly experienced from a necessity of referring daily to rare, costly, and extensive publications, often to be found only in the libraries of the wealthy. A belief that what was indispensable to himself might also prove useful to the public, afterwards led to the commencement of the pre- sent Work, the appearance of which has been accelerated by the growing want of some Introduction to that method of investigating the productions of the Vegetable Kingdom which, under the name of the Natural System, has gradu- ally displaced more popular classifications, well adapted indeed to captivate the superficial inquirer, but exercising so baneful an influence upon Botany, as to have rendered it doubtful whether it even deserved a place among the sciences. When the printing was commenced, we had no En- glish Introduction whatever to the subject of which it treats; but, soon afterwards, a translation was published by Dr, Clinton, of the fourth edition of Richard's Nourcaue Elémens de la Botanique, in which much information is to be found. Tad this work appeared calculated to answer “the purpose of even a temporary Introduction, the matter Siow made public wouid have still remained in the cabinet of the Author; but the plan of M. Richard, indepen- b vi PREFACE. dently of other considerations, did not admit of so much detail as seemed desirable, and was scarcely adapted to render the Natural System of Botany popular in a country like Great Britain, where it has to contend with a great deal of deeply-rooted prejudice. Two principal objects require to be kept in view, in a scientific work intended for common use: in the first place, there must be no sacrifice of science to popularity ; but secondly, it is desirable that as much facility be afforded the student as the nature of the subject will admit. In reconciling these two apparently contradictory conditions lies the difficulty of rendering an arrangement in Natural History which is not merely superficial, gene- rally intelligible. To be understood by the mass of mankind, it must be freed from all unnecessary techni- calities, and must be essentially founded upon such peculiarities as it requires no unusual powers of vision, or of discrimination, to seize and apply: on the other hand, it is found by experience, that unless it depends upon a consideration of every point of structure, however numerous or various, however obscure or difficult of access, it will not answer the end for which all classifications ought to be designed, that of enabling the observer to judge of an unknown fact by a known one, and to deter- mine the mutual relations which one body or being bears to another. In attempting to steer a middle course, the Author is by no means satisfied that he shall be found to have attained the end he has proposed to himself. Botany is a most extensive science, involving a hundred thousand gradations of structure, with myriads of minor modifica- tions, and extending over half the organie world; the anatomical structure of the beings it comprehends is so minute, and their laws of life are so obseure, as to elude the keenest sight and to baffle the subtlest reasoning: so that to render it as casy of attainment as the world, misled by specious fallacies, is apt to believe it to be, is hopele PREFACE, Vil There are, however, no difficulties so great but they may be diminished; and even a determination of the relation which one part of the animated world bears to another, may be simplified by analysis, and an exposition of the principles upon which such relations are to be judged of. With this view, in the first place, the value of the characters of which botanists make use are here care- fully investigated, for the sake of pointing out the relative importance of the principal modifications of structure in the vegetable kingdom. In the second place, the charac- ters of the orders are analysed by means of tables, in which the distinctive characters of each are reduced to their simplest denomination. It is true that this kind of analysis is attended by the evil of distracting attention from that general and universal study of organisation which the science demands, thus having a manifest tend- ency to render the Natural System artificial; and that it is also apt to mislead the inexperienced or incautious observer, in consequence of the many exceptions to which distinctive characters are frequently liable. But such evils are nothing compared with the confusion and perplexity an unaided inquirer must experience in disentangling the distinctions of orders for himself. It should also be borne in mind, that analytical tables are mere artificial aids in investigation, to be abandoned as soon as they cease to be indispensable. Many variations in the form of such tables may be easily made; and, in fact, the student cannot exercise himself better than in contriving them for him- self, as he may readily do by beginning from some other point than that commenced with here. The mode in which the tables of this book are to be employed will be best explained by an example, the reader being supposed to be in possession of the preliminary knowledge which is afforded by the Introduction, Let a Cistus be the subject of inquiry. Upon examining the tables, the first question which the student must ask himscl! is, Whether it belongs to Vascular or Cellular plants, to Dicotyledons Vili PREFACE. or Monocotyledons: the structure of the leaves tells him this, and he decides for Dicotyledons. He next inquires if it has the seeds naked or in a capsule; and ascertaining that the latter is the case, he knows it belongs to Angio- sperme. He then finds it to be polypetalous, and that the stamens are hypogynous, or those of the division called Thalamiflore. Having proceeded thus far, he is led to inquire whether the carpella ave in a state of combina- tion, or distinct; and finding the former to be the case, he sces that his plant is referable to what are called Syncarpe, among Polypetalous Dicotyledons with hypo- gynous stamens. Now the artificial divisions of this sec- tion are seen to depend, in the first instance, upon the structure of the ovarium: that organ is examined, and is found to be 1-celled, with the ovules parietal. Among plants of this nature the placente are either linear and contracted, or branched all over the surface of the valves; there is no difficulty in ascertaining this point, and it is found that the plant in question has the former character. Then comes an inquiry whether the sepals are 2, or inva- tiably 4, or 5 (occasionally varying to 4, 6, or 7); they are found to be 5; and here the analysis is reduced to the decision between whether the ovules have a foramen at the extremity opposite the hilum, or next the hilum; the former being ascertained to be the case, no doubt can remain of the plant belonging to the natural order Cis- tine. This operation may appear rather tedious, but after a little practice it is gone through quickly; and when the conclusion sought for is attained, the station of the plant is not only ascertained, but also that all vegetables having the same characters are herbaceous or shrubby plants, with gay ephemeral flowers, usually growing in rocky places, and possessing no known qualities except that of scereting, in some instances, a sort of resinous substance used as a stomachic and tonic. Examples need not be multiptied, one instance shew- ing what the method of analysis is, as well as more. PREFACE, ix The plan adopted, independently of the part now adverted to, is this: To every collection of orders, whe- ther called class, division, subdivision, tribe, section, or otherwise, such remarks upon the value of the characters assigned to it are prefixed as the personal experience of the Author, or that of others, shews them to deserve. To every order the Name is given which is most generally adopted, or which appears most unexceptionable, with its Synonymes, a citation of a few authorities connected with each, and their date: so that, from these quotations, the reader will learn at what period the order was first noticed, and also in what works he is to look for further informa- tion upon it. To this succeeds the Dracnosis, which comprehends the distinctive characters of the order re- duced to their briefest form, and its most remarkable fea- tures, without reference to exceptions. The latter are adverted to in what are called ANomattes. Then follows the EssentraLCuaracrer; a brief description of the order, in all its most important particulars. This is succeeded by a paragraph styled Arrinrrres, in which are discussed the relations which the order bears to others, and the most remarkable circumstances connected with its structure in case it exhibits any particular instance of anomalous organ- isation. GEoGRApHY points out the distribution of the genera and species over the surface of the globe; and the head Prorerries comprehends all that is certainly known of the use of the species in medicine, the arts, domestic or rural economy, and so forth. A few genera are finally named as Exampves of each order. The arrangement of the orders is not precisely that of any previous work, nor indeed do any two Botanists adopt exactly the same plan; a circumstance which arises out of the very nature of the subject, the impossibility of expressing affinities by any lineal arrangement (the only one which can be practically employed), and the different value that different observers attach to the same charac- ters. This is, however, of no practical importance, so x PREFACE. long as the limits of the orders themselves are unchanged ; for the latter are the basis of the system, to which all other considerations are subordinate. Such a collection of orders as that here given cannot certainly be called “the Natural System” of the Vegetable Kingdom, in the proper sense of those words; but it is what Botanists take as a substitute for it, until some fixed principle shall be discovered upon which combinations .can be formed subordinate to the first great classes of Vascu- lares and Cellulares, of Exogene and Endogene. It is also certain, that in the actual state of Botany we are more usefully employed in determining the characters of natural groups by exact observation, than in speculating upon points which we have not yet the means of dis- cussing properly. In conclusion, the Author has only to add, that this Work must not be viewed as an Introduction to Botany. Those who would understand it must previously possess such an elementary acquaintance with the science as they may collect from his Outline of the First Principles of Botany, or some other work in which the modern views of vegetable organisation are explained. This, and the following in- troductory sketch of the principal modifications of struc- ture, will be found to convey as much information as is absolutely required with reference to the immediate subject of the Work.